Common name: Spreading Cress
Phlegmatospermum eremaeum (J.M.Black) E.A.Shaw APNI* Description: Slender, prostrate to spreading herb with bifid, appressed hairs.
Basal leaves in a rosette, petiolate, obovate, tapered at base, to 4 cm long, pinnately lobed or scalloped, rarely entire; stem leaves obovate, to 2 cm long, toothed.
Inflorescence a dense raceme. Sepals 1–2 mm long, sometimes with purple borders; petals 2–3 mm long, white, sometimes with purple bases and veins; stigma flat, not capitate.
Silicula elliptic, 5–7 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, apex slightly notched; valves not winged, often with hairs on tuberculate bases; pedicels c. 2 mm long; seeds 5–7 per locule, ellipsoid, c. 1 mm long.
Flowering: winter–spring
Distribution and occurrence: A rare species in mallee woodland in the south-west of the State.
NSW subdivisions: SFWP
Phlegmatospermum eremaeum (J. Black) E. Shaw is recorded for New South Wales on the basis of a single NSW Herbarium collection from near Balranald. It has been found close to the NSW border in Victoria and South Australia. This species is similar to P. cochlearinum but the plants are usually prostrate or spreading and have smaller petals (2-3 mm long) and seeds are (c. 1 mm diam.).
Text by S.F. McCune Apr 2023
Taxon concept: VICFLORA
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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